Self-defense

Text by MATTHEW CHOI

Art by ESTHER XU NAVIGATING WITH CONFIDENCE

SELF-DEFENSE IN PE CAN EMPOWER STUDENTS

IMAGINE SOMEONE attempting to steal your personal belongings from you. With no one around to alert the perpetrator or help you prevent your belongings from being stolen, your lack of self-defense knowledge forces you to succumb to this vulnerable situation. Either you lose your smartphone, wallet and computer, some of your most valuable possessions, or you use self-defense skills that can otherwise prevent the same occurrence in the future.

Although attempted stealing is highly unlikely for Palo Alto High School students, it’s still important to address the overall situation of violent encounters both locally and statewide. As Paly students become more independent and spend more time outside of the protection of parent-guardians, they also become potentially more vulnerable.

To teach students how to stay safe in the real world, Paly should institute a self-defense unit as part of physical education.

Safety in the real world

In a self-defense PE unit, students should be taught a variety of basic tactics to avoid injury.

One of the most important ways to avoid injury is to use common sense. For example, understanding vulnerable settings and staying away from them could go a long way in keeping our student body safe.

In the rare case that a student is caught in a dangerous situation, the PE unit should also teach techniques to escape high-risk situations unharmed.

The unit should delve into the basic methods of escaping the most common types of attacks: bodylocks, chokes and hair pulls.

I also recommend that each class should consist of video demonstrations, coach enactments and student pair practice to master each of the basic techniques, similar to how the current PE wrestling unit is run.

Additional benefits

Along with the benefits of increased safety for the student body, a PE self-defense unit could also improve students’ self esteem and confidence.

According to the National Center on Domestic and Sexual Violence, self-defense provides the tools and skills needed to respond and navigate in a situation effectively with confidence. Additionally, practitioners will enhance their own awareness of their surroundings, especially in suspicious or dangerous environments.

In order to promote self-respect and respect to peers, coaches should encourage a safe environment and learning space where students can enrich their mutual trust and security.

As students master and learn to apply each self-defense technique, through constant practice, their self-confidence will rise, knowing that they can protect themselves within any environment in the future.

Since self-defense provides physical protection for life, practitioners will ideally experience enhanced self-worth and a better sense of safety after their training.

I urge the school to think about which everlasting values and life skills they can instill in themselves from a self-defense unit. By implementing a self-defense unit, students will kill two birds with one stone: They will be able to protect themselves and become more confident. v